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E135 



SOME CONDITIONS AFFECTING PROB- 
LEMS OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN 
78 AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS 

LEONARD P. AYRES, PH.D. 




Division of Education 
Russell Sage Foundation 

130 East Twenty-second Street, New York City 

Price 10 Cents 



2- 14-35 



Inst'tution 



<l> 



v^^>^ 



Some Conditions Affecting Problems of Indus- 
trial Education in 78 American 
School Systems 

During the closing weeks of the school year 1912-1913, the 
Division of Education of the Sage Foundation undertook an in- 
vestigation in cooperation with the superintendents of schools 
of some 78 American city school systems. The study included 
all of the cities of between 25,000 and 200,000 population which 
were not so suburban in character as to be in reality subsidiaries 
of larger cities and in which the school authorities were able to 
cooperate. The object of the investigation was to gather facts 
concerning the boys in these cities who had reached the limit of 
the compulsory attendance period and the fathers of these boys. 
The purpose of this study was to secure a more definite fact basis 
for thought and action in the field of industrial education. Data 
for girls were not included for the reason that 13 year old girls 
are in the main distributed through the same grades as are 13 
year old boys and the occupations of their fathers are in the long 
run identical with those of the fathers of the boys. Hence the 
study would have produced the same results if data for girls had 
been included and would have entailed nearly twice as much 
work. 

In each case the results were secured for all of the 13-year-old 
boys in the public schools of these cities at the date when the 
facts were gathered. The aggregate number of cases studied was 
22,027. The facsimile on page 4 shows the type of card used 
to gather the original data. 

These cards were supplied by the Division of Education of the 
Foundation. The data were gathered by the local school au- 
thorities and the results were tabulated by the Foundation. In 
cities having separate schools for white and colored children, the 
data were gathered for the white boys and their fathers only. 

Thirteen- Year-Old Boys in Every Grade from Kinder- 
garten THROUGH High School 
The first data secured were those showing the school grades of 
the boys. The tabulation of these figures brought to light two 

3 



significant facts. The first was that these boys who have reached 
the Hmit of the compulsory attendance period are scattered 
through the grades from the kindergarten to the senior year in 
the high school. Although they are all of the same age, they 
represent every stage of school advancement and are scattered 
through grades normally representing thirteen years of school 
progress, — one of the kindergarten, eight of the grades, and four 
of the high school. 



MIGRATION — OCCUPATION — PROGRESS STUDY, 1913 
RECORD FOR BOYS 13 YEARS OLD (AT LAST BIRTHDAY) 



NAME OF BOY. 



WAS HE BORN IN THIS CITY? IN THIS STATE? IN THE U. S.?_ 



WAS HIS FATHER (oR GUARDIAN) BORN IN THIS CITY? IN THIS STATE? IN U. S.?_ 

WHAT IS HIS FATHER'S (OR GUARDIAN-s) OCCUPATION? 



(STATE IF POSSIBLE. BUSINESS AS WELL AS OCCUPATION, FOR EXAMPLE, " CONDUCTOR 
ON STREET RAILWAY." "CLERK IN SHOE STORE." "MACHINE OPERATOR IN BOX 
FACTORY.") 



TEACHER. 



Half of the Boys in Sixth Grade or Below 
The second significant fact is that one-half of them are in the 
6th grade or below. Since previous studies of retardation among 
school children have shown that the children who drop out of 
school earliest are largely those who are seriously retarded and 
find themselves in the lower grades at relatively advanced ages, 
these facts are most important. They indicate that large num- 
bers of these boys may be expected to leave school soon and go 
to work with an educational preparation so inadequate that they 
cannot enter the ranks of industry with profit either to themselves 
or to the community. If we reduce our original figures showing 
the grade distributions of these 22,027 boys to relative figures 
indicating conditions among each 10,000 boys, we have the figures 
shown in Table i. 



TABLE I. GRADE DISTRIBUTION OF BOYS. RELATIVE FIGURES 
SHOWING BOYS IN EACH GRADE AMONG EACH 10,000 BOYS 



Grade 


Boys in each grade 


Boys in and below each 
grade 


Special and kindergarten 


92 

25 

76 

316 

944 
1,814 

2,493 
2,507 
1,441 

243 
28 

15 
6 


92 

117 

193 

509 

1.453 

3,267 

5,760 

8,267 

9,708 

9,951 

9,979 

9,994 

10,000 


I 


2 


■1 


A ■. . 


5 


6 


7 


8 

High School 

I 


II 


Ill 

IV 






Total 


10,000 


10,000 



These figures which show the grades of the children who have 
reached the limit of the compulsory attendance period constitute 
one of the simplest and most significant measures of the effi- 
ciency of the city school system in carrying its children through 
the grades. If, upon reaching the age of 13 years, a large pro- 
portion have nearly or quite completed the elementary course, 
we know the system is so administered as to insure the completion 
of a common school education for a large proportion of the chil- 
dren. If, on the other hand, considerable numbers of children 
at the end of the compulsory attendance period are still in the 
lower grades, we may be sure that most of them will drop out of 
school without staying to finish the course. According to the 
conventional standards for measuring retardation, the child who 
is 13 years of age is considered to be in his normal grade if he is 
in the 7th grade or above, and to be retarded if he is in the 6th 
grade or below. If then we compute for each of our 78 cities 
the per cent of 13 year old boys who are in the 7th grade or above, 
we have an important index of one phase of the efficiency of their 
school systems. This comparison shows the results presented in 
Table 2. 



What Some Cities Have Done, Others May Do 
Table 2 impressively illustrated the wide range of conditions 
in city school systems. At one extreme we have Aurora, 111., and 



TABLE 2. PER CENT OF BOYS IN AND ABOVE THE SEVENTH 

GRADE 



City 



1. Brockton, Mass 

2. Aurora, 111. (East) . . . . 

3. Kalamazoo, Mich 

4. Waterloo, Iowa 

5. Scranton, Pa 

6. Decatur, 111 

7. Aurora, 111. (West) . . . . 

8. Holyoke, Mass 

9. Racine, Wis 

ID. Newport, R. I 

11. Mobile, Ala 

12. Amsterdam, N. Y 

13. Rockford, 111 

14. Davenport, Iowa 

15. Pittsfield, Mass 

16. Paterson, N. J 

17. Saginaw, Mich. (West) 

18. Lancaster, Pa 

19. Dubuque, Iowa 

20. York, Pa 

21. Evansville, Ind 

22. Norwich, Ct 

23. Auburn, N. Y 

24. Utica, N. Y 

25. Springfield, O 

26. Syracuse, N. Y 

27. San Diego, Cal 

28. Chicopee, Mass 

29. Tacoma, Wash 

30. Meriden, Ct 

31. Elmira, N. Y 

32. Springfield, Mo 

33. Saginaw, Mich. (East) . 

34. Waterbury, Ct 

35. Joliet, 111 

36. Council Bluflfs, Iowa . . . 

37. Flint, Mich 

38. Binghamton, N. Y. . . . 

39. South Omaha, Neb. . . . 



Per cent 
of boys in 
and above 

seventh 
grade 



n 
73 
64 

63 
62 
61 
60 

59 
57 
57 
57 
54 
54 
54 
54 
53 
52 
52 
51 
51 
51 
50 
50 
49 
49 
49 
49 
49 
49 
49 
47 
47 
46 

45 
45 
45 
45 
45 
44 



City 



40. Madison, Wis 

41. Canton, O 

42. Superior, Wis 

43. Columbus, O . 

44. Reading, Pa 

45. Harrisburg, Pa 

46. Williamsport, Pa 

47. Niagara Falls, N. Y. . . . 

48. Albany, N. Y 

49. Hazelton, Pa 

50. South Bend, Ind 

51. Troy, N. Y 

52. Hamilton, O 

53. Atlanta, Ga 

54. Pueblo, Colo. (Dist. i) . 

55. Lincoln, Neb 

56. Chattanooga, Tenn. . . 

57. Bay City, Mich 

58. New Bedford, Mass. . . 

59. Portland, Me 

60. Manchester, N. H 

61. Fall River, Mass 

62. Johnstown, Pa 

63. Nashville, Tenn 

64. Youngstown, O 

65. New Britain, Ct 

66. Danville, 111 

67. Galveston, Tex 

68. Trenton, N. J 

69. Pueblo, Colo. (Dist. 20) 

70. Woonsocket, R. I 

71. Richmond, Va 

72. Norfolk, Va 

73. Lansing, Mich 

74. Birmingham, Ala 

75. Columbia, S. C 

76. Charleston, S. C 

77. Bridgeport, Ct 

78. Portsmouth, Va 



Per cent 
of boys in 
and above 

seventh 
grade 



44 
44 
44 
44 
42 
42 

41 
40 
40 
39 
38 
38 
38 
37 
36 
36 
36 
35 
34 
34 
34 
34 
33 
33 
33 
33 
32 
32 
31 
28 

24 
24 
21 
21 
20 
18 
18 
16 
12 



Brockton, Mass., with more than 70 per cent, of their 13 year 
old boys in the 7th grade or above, while at the other extreme we 
find, Columbia, S. C, Charleston, S. C, Bridgeport, Ct., and 
Portsmouth, Va., with less than 20 per cent above the 7th grade. 
The contrast between the cities at the two extremes of the table 
shows that in Brockton almost 8 boys out of every 10 are within 
sight of completing the common school course, while in Ports- 



mouth scarcely more than i in lo shows the same advance. From 
the point of view of industrial education these conditions are of 
the greatest importance. 

They indicate that in many cities the problem of securing a 
reasonably complete elementary schooling for all the children is 
far more pressing than that of instituting specialized industrial 
training. They show too that since this has been accomplished 
by some of the cities, it may be hopefully undertaken by all. 



Only One Father in Six Now Lives Where He Was Born 
The data giving the birthplaces of the boys and their fathers 
show that only about one father in six is now living in the city 
of his birth and that among the boys only a few more than one- 
half are now living where they were born. These facts are sig- 
nificant because it is often urged that the schools should develop 
courses of industrial education that will directly prepare the chil- 
dren to enter the local industries. But if present conditions main- 
tain in the future the great majority of adults are not going to 
work in the same communities in which they received their 
schooling. 

The facts as to the birthplaces of the boys and their fathers 
among the 22,027 cases studied are shown in Table 3. 

TABLE 3. BIRTHPLACES OF BOYS AND BIRTHPLACES OF THEIR 

FATHERS 





BOYS 


FATHERS 


Birthplace 


Number 


Per cent 


Number 


Per cent 


Same city 


12,699 
4,233 
3,069 
2,026 


58 

19 

14 

9 


3,601 
5,349 
4,364 
8,713 


16 


Same state but not same city 


24 
20 


Other state in United States 


Foreign country 


40 




Total .... ....... 


22,027 


100 


22,027 


100 







This table shows that even among American born fathers the 
number now living in the cities where they were born includes 
only about one in four, while among the boys the proportion is 
only about three in five. While this is true for the group as a 
whole, the figures for the different cities show wide variations. 
The ranges, together with the figures for each city, are shown in 
Table 4. 



TABLE 4. PER CENT OF BOYS LIVING IN CITY OF BIRTH AND 
PER CENT OF THEIR FATHERS LIVING IN CITY OF BIRTH 



aty 



Albany, N. Y 

Amsterdam, N. Y 

Atlanta, Ga 

Auburn, N. Y 

Aurora, 111. (East Side) 
Aurora, 111. (West Side) 

Bay City, Mich 

Binghamton, N. Y 

Birmingham, Ala 

Bridgeport, Ct 

Brockton, Mass 

Canton, O 

Charleston, S. C 

Chattanooga, Tenn. . . . 

Chicopee, Mass 

Columbia, S. C 

Columbus, O 

Council Bluffs, Iowa. . . 

Danville, 111 

Davenport, Iowa 

Decatur, 111 

Dubuque, 111 

Elmira, N. Y 

Evansville, Ind 

Fall River, Mass 

Flint, Mich 

Galveston, Tex 

Hamilton, O 

Harrisburg, Pa 

Hazelton, Pa 

Holyoke, Mass 

Johnstown, Pa 

Joliet, 111 

Kalamazoo, Mich 

Lancaster, Pa 

Lansing, Mich 

Lincoln, Neb 

Madison, Wis 

Manchester, N. H 

Meriden, Ct 

Mobile, Ala 

Nashville, Tenn 

New Bedford, Mass. . . 

New Britain, Ct 

Newport, R. I 

Niagara Falls, N. Y. . . 

Norfolk, Va 

Norwich, Ct 

Paterson, N. J 

Pittsfield, Mass 

Portland, Me 



Number 
of cases 



PER CENT LIVING IN 
CITY OF BIRTH 



468 
129 

lOI 
100 

57 
203 
182 

451 
704 

333 
291 

115 
103 
166 

58 
876 
187 
184 
280 
162 

98 
167 
277 
801 
210 
141 
176 
402 
161 
299 

317 
262 
184 
214 
164 
178 
140 
277 
194 
198 
396 
689 
248 

145 
161 
296 
141 

897 
242 

307 



Fathers 



Boys 



39 

13 
14 

24 

12 
19 
13 
14 

7 

9 

II 

16 

51 

5 

8 

7 
15 

9 
II 

25 
13 
21 
12 
24 

13 

8 

20 

20 

19 

19 

7 

26 

10 

9 

34 

9 

2 

14 
II 
16 

29 
22 

9 
7 
30 
12 
18 
21 

17 
12 

17 



71 
64 
53 
62 
50 
53 
61 

63 
46 

55 
68 

47 
71 
37 
51 
35 
50 
56 
39 
60 

41 

72 

56 
63 
72 
21 
69 
59 
55 
62 
61 
69 
63 
44 
64 
35 
37 
49 
62 
70 
50 
63 
52 
51 
79 
47 
54 
52 
68 
42 
61 



Table 4. Per Cent of Boys Living in City of Birth and Per Cent 
OF THEIR Fathers Living in City of Birth — {Continued) 



City 



Portsmouth, Va 

Pueblo, Colo. (Dist.i) 

Pueblo, Colo. (Dist. 20) 

Racine, Wis 

Reading, Pa 

Richmond, Va 

Rockford, 111 

San Diego, Cal 

Saginaw, Mich. (East Side) . 
Saginaw, Mich. (West Side) 

Scranton, Pa 

South Bend, Ind 

South Omaha, Neb 

Springfield, Mo 

Springfield, O 

Superior, Wis 

Syracuse, N. Y 

Tacoma, Wash 

Trenton, N. J 

Troy, N. Y 

Utica, N. Y 

Waterbury, Ct 

Waterloo, Iowa (West Side) 

Williamsport, Pa 

Woonsocket, R. I 

York, Pa 

Youngstown, O 

Total 



Number 
of cases 



118 
118 

234 
575 
461 

315 
291 

183 
130 

659 
265 

151 
94 
344 
173 
676 

415 
484 
276 
427 
416 

59 
181 
199 

333 
234 



PER CENT LIVING IN 
CITY OF BIRTH 



Fathers 



39 
I 

3 
13 
38 
32 
10 

I 
15 
24 
23 

9 

9 
13 

I 
20 

19 

33 
16 
12 

5 
24 

7 
35 
10 



Boys 



72 
25 
39 
60 
72 

71 
64 

13 
60 

63 
78 

47 
48 

43 
46 
64 

65 
35 
65 
78 
57 
63 
25 
65 
50 
64 
48 



22,027 



16 



58 



Industries in Which the Fathers Work 
The returns of the investigation showed for each of the fathers 
the nature of the trade or business in which he was engaged and 
also what kind of work he was doing in that trade or business. 
This made possible a double classification of the data, first by 
industries and second by occupations within the industries. The 
industrial classification was the one adopted by the United 
States Census Bureau and included the following five main di- 
visions : 

I. Industries of Extraction — ^Agriculture, Forestry, Mining, 
etc. 

II. Industries of Transformation — Building Trades, Manu- 
facturing, etc. 



lO 

III. Industries of Transportation and Communication — 
Railroads, Telegraph, etc. 

IV. Industries of Trade — Wholesale and Retail Trade, Real 
Estate, etc. 

V. Service — Government, Professional, Domestic, Personal, 
etc. 

The tabulations showed that the fathers were distributed in 
these five main industrial divisions as shown in Table 5. 



TABLE 5. INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION OF FATHERS 





FATHERS 


Industrial group 


Number 


Per cent 


Extraction 


754 

10,934 

2.774 

4,129 

2,597 


3-5 
51.6 
131 
19-5 
12.3 


Transformation 


Transportation 


Trade 


Service 




Total 


21,188 


lOOiO 






Retired, not stated or none 


839 








Grand Total 


22,027 









Only Half of the Fathers Work in Building Trades or 
Manufacturing 

One fact, shown in Table 5, is that only about one-half of these 
men are found in the Industries of Transformation which include 
the building trades and all classes of manufacturing. This is 
important because plans for inaugurating systems of vocational 
education are commonly based on the proposition that a large 
majority of the young people in our city schools will find their 
life-work in these industries. 

Another important fact is that the distribution of these men in 
these industrial groups is different from the corresponding figures 
for male workers in the country as a whole or in all American 
cities. The chief reason for this is that we are here dealing with 
adult men of sufficient maturity and stability of position in their 
communities to be fathers of 13-year-old boys in the public 
schools. The group includes no very young or very old men, few 
recent immigrants, few floaters, and few chronic ne'er-do-wells. 



II 

It is because of these characteristics that it furnishes facts which 
seem of unusual significance in the attempt to foresee what sorts 
of life work the young people now in city schools may be expected 
to go into. 

The variations between the different cities in the proportions 
of the men engaged in the five industrial classes are so great that 
each city is characteristically different from all the rest and no 
one shows even approximately the conditions indicated by the 
averages for the entire group. The degree to which this is true 
may be judged from the figures in Table 6. Since there are 78 
cities, the 40th has in each case been taken as the middle one. 



TABLE 6. PER CENT OF FATHERS IN EACH INDUSTRIAL GROUP 
IN CITIES HAVING RESPECTIVELY THE LOWEST, MIDDLE, 
AND HIGHEST PER CENTS IN EACH GROUP 





LOWEST 


MIDDLE 


HIGHEST 


Industrial group 


City 


Per 
cent of 
fathers 
in each 
group 


City 


Per 
cent of 
fathers 
in each 
group 


City 


Per 
cent of 
fathers 
in each 
group 


Extraction 

Transformation . . . 
Transportation . . . 
Trade 


Harrisburg 
Galveston 
New Britain 
Chicopee 
Chicopee 


20 

4 
6 

4 


Rockford 

Aurora 

Youngstown 

Trenton 

Danville 


3 

SI 
12 
18 
II 


Hazelton 

Chicopee 

Harrisburg 

Columbia 

Newport 


34 
78 
33 
45 
23 


Service 





Table 7 gives the percentages of fathers in each industrial group 
for all of the 78 cities. Where these percentages do not add to 
100 per cent, it is because the figures for the group entitled, 
" Retired, not stated, or none, " have been omitted. 



TABLE 7. PER CENT OF FATHERS IN EACH INDUSTRIAL GROUP 



City 



Albany, N. Y 

Amsterdam, N. Y 

Atlanta, Ga , 

Auburn, N. Y 

Aurora, 111. (East Side) 
Aurora, 111. (West Side) 
Bay City, Mich , 





PER CENT OF FATHERS IN 


Extrac- 


Transfor- 


Transpor- 




tion 


mation 


tation 


Trade 


I 


38 


18 


21 


5 


63 


5 


16 


I 


32 


18 


32 


3 


52 


II 


20 


2 


63 


ID 


12 


5 


51 


9 


19 


14 


42 


16 


14 



Service 



16 



16 
II 



9 
12 



12 



Table 7. P^r Cent of Fathers in Each Industrial Group — (Continued) 



City 



Binghamton, N. Y. . . . 

Birmingham, Ala 

Bridgeport, Ct 

Brockton, Mass 

Canton, O 

Charleston, S. C 

Chattanooga, Tenn. . . . 

Chicopee, Mass 

Columbia, S. C 

Columbus, O 

Council Bluffs, la 

Danville, 111 

Davenport, la 

Decatur, 111 

Dubuque, la 

Elmira, N. Y 

Evansville, Ind 

Fall River, Mass 

Flint, Mich 

Galveston, Tex 

Hamilton, O 

Harrisburg, Pa 

Hazelton, Pa 

Holyoke, Mass 

Johnstown, Pa 

Joliet, 111 

Kalamazoo, Mich 

Lancaster, Pa 

Lansing, Mich 

Lincoln, Neb 

Madison, Wis 

Manchester, N. H 

Meriden, Ct 

Mobile, Ala 

Nashville, Tenn 

New Bedford, Mass. . . . 

New Britain, Ct 

Newport, R. I 

Niagara Falls, N. Y. . . 

Norfolk, Va 

Norwich, Ct 

Paterson, N. J 

Pittsfield, Mass 

Portland, Me 

Portsmouth, Va 

Pueblo, Colo. (Dist. i). 
Pueblo, Colo. (Dist. 20) 

Racine, Wis 

Reading, Pa 

Richmond, Va 

Rockford, 111 

San Diego, Cal 



PER CENT OF FATHERS IN 



Extrac- 
tion 



3 
3 
2 
2 
2 

4 
2 
2 

3 

I 

2 

12 

3 

ID 

7 
5 
8 
2 

3 
2 

3 

34 
I 

5 
3 
5 
2 

4 
I 
I 
3 
7 
3 
I 

4 
3 
II 
I 
2 
6 

6 
I 

4 
3 
2 
I 
I 

3 
6 



Transfor- 
mation 



49 
34 
61 

63 
60 
22 
32 

78 
26 
46 
36 
34 
42 

41 
46 

39 
46 

59 
58 
20 
55 
34 
22 
66 
56 
53 
55 
53 
63 
25 
43 
57 
62 
26 

37 
61 

67 
33 
61 

31 
55 
66 

58 
38 
56 
37 
54 
65 
57 
45 
71 
38 



Transpor- 
tation 



19 
20 

7 

7 

9 

23 

14 

8 

12 

15 

23 

18 

12 

14 
II 

19 
9 

8 

14 
20 

6 
33 
13 

6 
10 
21 
II 
12 

7 

19 
14 

9 

7 
23 
17 

5 

4 
II 

9 

17 

9 



18 
21 
II 

14 
18 



Trade 



19 
31 

18 

14 
17 

41 

33 

6 

45 
20 

19 
16 
20 

17 
20 
21 

22 
17 
15 
31 
17 
17 
18 

13 
14 
12 

17 
22 

17 
31 
20 

17 
13 
31 
26 

14 
19 
19 
II 

33 
19 
14 
16 

25 
27 

23 
II 
12 

14 
21 
12 
21 



Service 



9 
10 
II 
12 

8 

9 
17 

4 
14 
13 
14 
II 

19 
16 
10 
13 
13 
12 
8 
22 
12 

13 

6 

12 

9 
9 



21 

19 

13 

8 

13 

15 

13 

6 

23 
14 
14 
II 
10 
8 
12 
10 

16 
9 

7 
10 

13 

6 

21 



13 



Table 7. Per Cent of Fathers in Each Industrial Group — (Continued) 



City 



Saginaw, Mich. (East Side) . . 
Saginaw, Mich. (West Side). . 

Scranton, Pa 

South Bend, Ind 

South Omaha, Neb 

Springfield, Mo 

Springfield, O 

Superior, Wis 

Syracuse, N. Y 

Tacoma, Wash 

Trenton, N. J 

Troy, N. Y 

Utica, N. Y 

Waterbury, Ct 

Waterloo, la. (West Side). . . . 

Williamsport, Pa 

Woonsocket, R. I 

York, Pa 

Youngstown, O 



Extrac- 
tion 



7 
14 
25 

I 

5 
3 
2 

X 

3 
I 
2 
2 
I 

3 
2 
I 
I 



PER CENT OF FATHERS IN 



Transfor- 
mation 



43 
48 
28 
58 
47 
37 
51 
34 
52 
45 
58 
49 
50 
64 
49 
51 
61 

55 
62 



Transpor- 
tation 



15 
15 
13 
13 
II 

14 

7 
17 
II 
16 
II 
12 
12 

8 
12 
18 

8 

13 
12 



Trade 



22 
15 
17 
18 

13 
27 
14 
30 
21 
18 
18 
20 
20 
12 
25 
13 
15 
15 
13 



Service 



9 

7 

II 

10 

9 
16 

13 
13 
13 
13 
II 

14 

ID 
12 

7 
10 

13 
10 
10 



Occupations of Fathers 
The occupational classification of these workers was made 
under six heads, of which the first three relate to occupations pri- 
marily manual in nature, while the remaining three groups are 
primarily mental. 

TABLE 8. OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF FATHERS 



Occupational group 


FATHERS 


Number 


Per cent 


Manual 

Unskilled laborers 


785 
4,621 
8,490 


3-7 


Semi-skilled laborers and machine operatives 


21.8 


Artisans and foremen 


40.1 






Total Manual 


13,896 


65.6 






Mental 

Clerks and salesmen 


1,883 

4,562 

847 


8.9 


Managers, superintendents, and proprietors 


21.6 


Professional and financial workers 


3.9 






Total Mental 


7,292 


34.4 






Total Manual and Mental 


21,188 


100.0 






Retired, not stated or none 


839 








Grand total 


22,027 









14 

One-third in Head Work; Two-thirds in Hand Work 
Three significant facts are brought to light by the figures of 
Table 5. The first is that more of these men are in professional 
work than there are engaged in unskilled labor. The second is 
that the group of managers, superintendents, and proprietors 
is practically as large as that made up of semi-skilled laborers. 
The third is that the mental workers constitute more than one- 
third of all the workers. 

In the occupational distribution, as in the industrial one, we 
find the greatest variation in the conditions in the different cities. 
Table 9 shows the range in percentages and here again the 40th 
city in the list is in each case taken as the middle city. 

TABLE 9. PER CENT OF FATHERS IN EACH OCCUPATIONAL 
GROUP IN CITIES HAVING RESPECTIVELY THE LOWEST, 
MIDDLE, AND HIGHEST PER CENTS IN EACH GROUP 





LOWEST 


MIDDLE 


HIGHEST 


Occupational 
group 


City 


Per 

cent of 
fathers 
in each 
group 


City 


Per 
cent of 
fathers 
in each 
group 


City 


Per 

cent of 
fathers 
in each 
group 


Manual 

Unskilled 

Semi-skilled .... 

Artisans and 

foremen 

Mental 

Clerks 


Charleston 
Mobile 

Columbia 

Chicopee 

Chicopee 
Trenton 


3 

14 
2 

7 

I 


Lancaster 
Albany 

New Britain 

Pueblo 

Aurora 
Lancaster 


6 
18 

40 

9 

21 
4 


S. Omaha 
Brockton 

Meriden 

Columbia 

Charleston 
Springfield, 
Mo. 


26 
SI 

56 

28 


Managers and 

proprietors . . . 

Professional .... 


4S 
10 



Table 10 gives the percentages of fathers in each occupation 
group for each of the 78 cities. As before, where the figures for 
any city do not add to 100 per cent, it is because data for the 
"retired, not stated, or none" group have been omitted. 



15 

TABLE lo. PER CENT OF FATHERS IN EACH OCCUPATIONAL 

GROUP 



City 



Albany, N. Y 

Amsterdam, N. Y. . 

Atlanta, Ga 

Auburn, N. Y 

Aurora, 111. (East) . 
Aurora, 111. (West) . 
Bay City, Mich. . . . 
Binghamton, N. Y. , 
Birmingham, Ala. . . 

Bridgeport, Ct 

Brockton, Mass. . . . 

Canton, O 

Charleston, S. C. . . 
Chattanooga, Tenn. 
Chicopee, Mass. . . . 
Columbia, S. C. . . . 

Columbus, O 

Council Bluffs, la. . 

Danville, 111 

Davenport, la 

Decatur, 111 

Dubuque, la 

Elmira, N. Y 

Evansville, Ind. . . . 
Fall River, Mass. . . 

Flint, Mich 

Galveston, Tex. . . . 

Hamilton, O 

Harrisburg, Pa 

Hazelton, Pa 

Holyoke, Mass 

Johnstown, Pa 

Joliet, 111 

Kalamazoo, Mich. . 

Lancaster, Pa 

Lansing, Mich 

Lincoln, Neb 

Madison, Wis 

Manchester, N. H. . 

Meriden, Ct 

Mobile, Ala 

Nashville, Tenn. . . . 
New Bedford, Mass 
New Britain, Ct. . . 



PER CENT OF FATHERS IN 



Manual occupation 



Un- 
skilled 
laborers 



4 
3 
5 
6 

5 

2 

4 
3 
6 

3 
6 

2 

8 
5 

ID 

4 
4 
4 
6 

4 
7 
3 
8 

ID 

6 

7 
3 
15 
7 
7 
6 

5 
5 
6 

4 
3 

I 

5 
5 



Semi- 
skilled 
laborers 
and ma- 
chine 
oper- 
atives 



l8 
34 
9 
II 
12 
II 
25 

19 
5 

27 

51 

23 

9 

6 

29 

14 
I6 

20 
12 
17 

9 

21 

15 
13 
46 

24 

12 
12 
22 
ID 
35 

i8 

24 
23 
21 

25 

II 
i6 
36 
17 

3 

ID 

45 

27 



Arti- 
sans 
and 
fore- 
men 



39 
30 
33 
46 
54 
46 
41 
40 

39 
41 
22 

41 
23 
32 
54 
14 
37 
40 

47 
36 
48 
27 
41 
47 
22 

47 
28 

43 
40 

52 
35 
40 

45 
32 
37 
34 
34 
41 
32 
56 
29 
38 
26 
40 



Mental occupation 



Clerks 
and 



14 
6 
6 

12 

8 

12 

15 

9 

5 

7 

19 

17 

2 

28 

II 



II 
9 
5 

13 
9 
6 

7 

20 

6 

12 

8 

9 

7 

5 

II 

10 

6 

20 

9 

9 

5 

16 

18 

6 

6 



Man- 
agers, 
super- 
intend- 
ents 
and pro- 
prietors 



22 
17 
36 
26 
16 
21 

15 

20 
32 
18 

17 
20 

45 
35 
7 
36 
22 

24 
19 
26 
22 

37 
21 
21 

15 
16 
26 
23 
17 
21 

14 
16 
16 
23 
23 
26 

23 
20 

14 
17 
40 

25 
12 

19 



Profes- 
sional 
and 
finan- 
cial 
workers 



i6 



Table io. 



JfER Cent of Fathers in Each Occupational Group — (Con- 
tinued) 



City 



Newport, R. I 

Niagara Falls, N. Y. . . . 

Norfolk, Va 

Norwich, Ct 

Paterson, N. J 

Pittsfield, Mass 

Portland, Me 

Portsmouth, Va 

Pueblo, Colo. (Dist. l). , 
Pueblo, Colo. (Dist. 20) . 

Racine, Wis 

Reading, Pa 

Richmond, Va 

Rockford, 111 

San Diego, Cal 

Saginaw, Mich. (East) . . 
Saginaw, Mich. (West) . 

Scranton, Pa 

South Bend, Ind 

South Omaha, Neb. . . . 

Springfield, Mo 

Springfield, O 

Superior, Wis 

Syracuse, N. Y 

Tacoma, Wash 

Trenton, N. J 

Troy, N. Y 

Utica, N. Y 

Waterbury, Ct 

Waterloo, la. (West) . . 

Williamsport, Pa 

Woonsocket, R. I 

York, Pa 

Youngstown, O 



PER CENT OF FATHERS IN 



Manual occupation 



Un- 
skilled 
laborers 



3 
7 
5 
I 
6 

14 
6 

9 
3 
3 
5 
4 
5 
9 
3 
26 

3 
17 
13 

8 

7 

7 

7 

II 

4 

9 

II 

7 
8 

9 



Semi- 
skilled 
laborers 
and ma 
chine 
oper- 
atives 



12 
26 
6 
23 
39 
24 
II 
II 
14 
23 
22 

17 
8 

16 
8 

19 
29 
16 
23 
13 
10 

9 
14 
19 
15 
27 
24 
21 

19 
10 

24 
40 

15 
18 



Arti- 
sans 
and 
fore- 
men 



38 

39 
36 
39 
31 
36 
41 
52 
38 
40 

44 
47 
45 
54 
33 
43 
38 
46 
40 

35 
40 

43 
38 
42 
41 
37 
38 
34 
55 
32 
37 
30 
48 

47 



Mental occupation 



Clerks 
and 

sales- 
men 



4 

5 
14 
6 
6 
7 
13 
8 

9 

4 
5 
7 
II 
8 

ID 

20 

10 

9 

9 

5 

14 

6 

7 

II 

8 

7 
10 

7 
8 
12 
8 
7 
9 
9 



Man- 
agers, 
super- 
intend- 
ents 
and pro- 
prietors 



33 
16 
36 
26 
18 

23 
26 
26 

27 
16 

19 
17 
27 
16 
32 
19 
16 
16 
22 
17 
23 
20 

25 
16 
24 
21 
20 
24 
14 
29 

17 
15 
15 
13 



Profes- 
sional 
and 
finan- 
cial 
workers 



4 
5 
5 
3 
3 
4 
3 
6 
2 

3 
2 

5 
3 
9 
I 
2 
3 
3 
3 
10 

5 
2 

4 
4 
I 
2 

3 
I 

9 
4 
I 

4 
4 



More Foreign Born in Manual Work; More Americans 
IN Mental Work 
The records showed that 40 per cent of the fathers were born 
in foreign countries. A tabulation of their occupational records 
was made to see how they differed from those of the American 
born fathers. The results are presented in Table 1 1 , which shows 



17 

the number in each occupational group among each looo fathers 
among the foreign and American born. 

TABLE II. OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF AMERICAN AND 
FOREIGN BORN FATHERS. RELATIVE FIGURES PER looo IN 
EACH NATIVITY GROUP 





FATHERS 


Occupational group 


American 


Foreign 


Manual 

Unskilled laborers 


41 
169 
398 


88 


Semi-skilled laborers and machine operatives 


278 
374 


Artisans and foremen 




Total manual 


608 


740 






Mental 

Clerks and salesmen 


113 

228 

51 


60 


Managers, superintendents, and proprietors 


180 


Professional and financial workers 


20 






Total mental 


392 


260 






Grand total 


1,000 


1,000 







The results show that the foreign born are relatively more 
numerous among the manual workers and the Americans among 
the mental ones. Nevertheless the disproportion is not so great 
as many would perhaps have expected. 



Occupations in Different Industries 
The original returns showed the occupations of the fathers in 
many hundreds of industries, and in order to tabulate them the 
data were consolidated under some 35 industrial groupings fol- 
lowing the plan adopted by the office of the United States Census. 
The distribution of the men by occupational classes in each of 
these industrial groups is shown in Table 12 which gives the orig- 
inal data in some detail and again in Table 13 in which the same 
facts are presented in relative figures on the basis of a total of 
10,000 after omitting those classified as "retired, not stated, or 
none. " In these tables the first three columns refer to the occu- 
pations we have termed manual while the next three are those 
we have called mental. In the list of 35 industrial groupings 
those numbered from i to 6 are industries of extraction, numbers 
7 to 20 are those of transformation, numbers 21 to 26 are indus- 
tries of transportation, and numbers 27 to 31 are those of trade. 



i8 

Those numbered from 32 to 35 come under the general caption 
of service. 



TABLE 12. INDUSTRIAL AND OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION 
OF 22,027 FATHERS 



Industrial group 



FATHERS IN 



Manual occupations 



;2|; 



< 



Mental occupations 



1 

a <u 

1 



Managers, super- 
intendents and 
proprietors 


eg 




286 


I 
2 


6 


7 

15 
2 


2 


2 


4 
368 


24 


4 


21 


3 


4 


30 


I 


4 


41 


2 


12 


47 




47 


125 


8 


6 


21 




6 


18 




14 


46 


9 


3 
8 


18 
14 


3 


19 
25 


33 

48 


25 
4 


66 

5 


180 
26 


37 


12 


95 


9 


118 
18 


94 

I 


2 


109 


29 





Total 



1. Agriculture 

2. Forestry 

3. Animal husbandry . . . 

4. Mining 

5. Quarrying 

6. Salt, oil, and natural 

gas 

7. Building trades 

8. Chemicals and allied 

products 

9. Clay, glass, and stone . 
ID. Clothing 

11. Food and kindred 

products 

12. Iron and steel and 

their products 

13. Leather and its fin- 

ished products 

14. Liquors and bever- 

ages 

15. Lumber and its re- 

manufacture 

16. Metals and metal 

products other than 
iron and steel 

17. Paper 

18. Printing and book- 

binding 

19. Textiles 

20. Miscellaneous indus- 

tries 

21. Water transportation . 

22. Road, street, and 

bridge transporta- 
tion 

23. Transportation by 

railroad 

24. Express companies . . . 

25. Post, telegraph, and 

telephone 



38 

I 

20 

2 

4 
23 

12 

26 

I 

14 

166 

2 

10 
17 



28 

63 
10 



40 
71 



13 

15 
II 

4 

I 

29 

16 

77 
66 

59 
459 
169 

34 
123 

68 



7 
1,042 

394 

28 



294 

5 

53 



12 

297 
3 

1,807 

21 
141 

272 

272 

1,928 

179 

41 
250 



203 
27 

158 
159 

1,121 

47 



153 

612 
4 

39 



15 



360 
2 

36 
351 

II 

9 
2,254 

77 
279 
386 

404 
2,734 
377 
109 
460 



302 
146 

242 
1,306 

1,861 
116 



1,207 

1,191 
28 

232 



19 



Table 12. 



Industrial and Occupational Distribution of 22,027 
Fathers — ( Continued) 



Industrial group 



FATHERS IN 



Manual occupations 






2S 

S2 






Mental occupations 



■go 



^■3 
Ji a 



Si 



Total 



26. 



27. 

28. 

29. 
30. 
31- 
32. 
33- 



34- 
35- 

36. 



Other persons in trans- 
portation 

Banking and broker- 
age 

Insurance and real 
estate 

Wholesale trade 

Retail trade 

Other persons in trade 

Public administration 

Public defense and 
maintenance of law 
and order 

Professional service . . . 

Domestic and personal 
service 

Retired, not stated, 
or none 

Total 



22 

24 

II 

137 



23 
520 



219 
6 

292 
9 



218 
6 

351 
9 



25 

12 

481 

766 

13 

51 



19 
6 

22 

126 



56 

353 

226 

1,941 

19 
46 



41 
15 

296 
10 



13 

I 
5 

13 
3 

56 



22 
596 

5 
I 



2 
I 

137 



367 

796 

2,817 

55 

459 



520 
631 

990 

812 



1,305 



4,630 



8,499 



2,009 



4,572 



164 



22,027 



TABLE 13. INDUSTRIAL AND OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION 
OF 21,188 FATHERS. RELATIVE FIGURES ON THE BASIS OF 
10,000 AFTER OMITTING THOSE CLASSIFIED AS "RETIRED, 
NOT STATED, OR NONE" 



Industrial group 



FATHERS IN 



Manual occupations Mental occupations 






< 



•a 

s« 

eg a> 
u 





in <u ' 
ma 



fl ? 



Total 



9- 
10, 
II. 
12. 

13- 

14. 
15. 

16. 

17. 
18. 

19- 
20. 
21. 
22. 

23- 

24. 

25- 

26. 

27- 

28. 
29. 
30. 

31- 
32. 
33- 

34- 
35- 



Agriculture 

Forestry 

Animal husbandry 

Mining 

Quarrying 

Salt, oil, and natural gas . . . . 

Building trades 

Chemicals and allied prod- 
ucts 

Clay, glass, and stone 

Clothing 

Food and kindred products. . 

Iron and steel and their 
products 

Leather and its finished 
products 

Liquors and beverages 

Lumber and its remanu- 
facture 

Metals and metal products 
other than iron and steel . . 

Paper 

Printing and bookbinding . . . 

Textiles 

Miscellaneous industries. . . . 

Water transportation 

Road, street, and bridge 
transportation 

Transportation by railroad . . 

Express companies 

Post, telegraph, and tele- 
phone 

Other persons in transporta- 
tion 

Banking and brokerage 

Insurance and real estate . . . 

Wholesale trade 

Retail trade 

Other persons in trade 

Public administration 

Public defense and main- 
tenance of law and order . . 

Professional service 

Domestic and personal ser- 
vice 



ID 
I 
2 

II 

5 
12 

7 
78 

I 

5 



4 
4 

13 

30 

5 

19 

34 



II 
II 

5 
65 



14 



37 
31 

28 

217 

80 
16 

58 

32 

41 

3 

491 

186 

13 

424 

139 

2 

25 



14 

12 

I 

42 

104 

3 

138 



6 

140 

I 

853 

10 
67 

128 
128 

910 

84 
20 

118 

96 
13 
74 
75 
529 
22 

72 

289 

2 



15 
20 

3 
38 

103 

3 

166 



I 

4 

9 

12 

31 
2 

6 

56 

9 

51 



12 

6 

227 

362 

6 

24 

9 
3 



135 

4 
7 
I 
2 
174 

10 

14 
20 
22 

59 
10 



14 



27 
167 
107 
916 

9 
22 

19 

7 

140 



12 

2 

17 



2 

6 

I 

26 

10 

281 



163 

17 
166 

5 

4 

1,064 

36 
132 
182 
191 

1,290 

178 
52 

217 

143 
69 
114 
616 
878 
54 

570 

563 

13 

109 



47 

173 

376 

1,327 

25 
217 

245 
297 

467 



Total 371 I 2,181 4,007 



2,157 



393 



10,000 



21 

More Workers in Retail Trade Than in Any Other Group 
An inspection of the totals in Table 13 shows that a large pro- 
portion of the workers are found in a small number of industrial 
groups. If we rank the industrial groups according to the 
number of workers in each, we shall find that two industrial 
groups include more than one-fourth of all these men, six include 
more than one-half of them, and 14 include more than three- 
fourths. These facts are shown in Table 14, from which the 
group entitled, "Miscellaneous Industries" has been omitted 
on account of its indefinite character. 



TABLE 14. FOURTEEN INDUSTRIAL GROUPS RANKED IN ORDER 
OF NUMBER OF FATHERS IN EACH. RELATIVE FIGURES ON 
BASIS OF 10,000. DERIVED FROM TABLE 13 



Industrial group 



Fathers in 
each group 



Fathers in 
each group 
and preced- 
ing groups 



1. Retail trade 

2. Iron and steel and their products 

3. Building trades 

4. Textiles 

5. Road, street and bridge transportation 

6. Transportation by railroad 

7. Domestic and personal service 

8. Wholesale trade 

9. Professional service 

10. Public defense and maintenance of law and order 

11. Lumber and its manufacture 

12. Public administration 

13. Food and kindred products 

14. Clothing 



1,327 
1,290 
1,064 
616 
570 
563 
467 
376 
297 

245 
217 
217 
191 
182 



1,327 
2,617 
3,681 
4,297 
4,867 
5,430 
5,897 
6,273 
6,570 
6,815 
7,032 
7,249 
7,440 
7,622 



By examining the totals in the last column of Table 14, it will 
be noted that the first two industries include 2,617 out of each 
10,000 fathers, or more than one-quarter of them, the first six 
5,430, or more than half of them, and the whole 14 industries 
7,622, or more than three-fourths of them. 



Summary 

1. The investigation included 22,027 thirteen-year-old boys in 
78 city school systems and the fathers of the boys. 

2. The boys were scattered through all the grades of the course 
from the kindergarten to the last year in the high school. 

3. One-half of the boys were in the sixth grade or below. They 



22 

need a common school education more than they need specialized 
industrial training, 

4. In some cities nearly eight boys in ten were in the 7th grade 
or above while in others only about one boy in ten was in the 
seventh grade or above. What some cities have accomplished, 
others may hopefully strive for. 

5. Only one father in six was born in the city where he now lives 
and only a few more than one-half of the boys were born where 
they now live. This has an important bearing on the proposi- 
tion that the schools should shape their courses with the pre- 
dominant aim of preparing the children to enter the local indus- 
tries. 

6. Only about one-half of the fathers are engaged in industries 
of the building trades and manufacturing. 

7. More of the fathers are engaged in the professions than are 
in unskilled labor. 

8. Mental workers constitute more than one-third of all the 
workers. This fact, and the two preceding ones, indicate the 
inaccuracy of the common generalization to the effect that only 
one child in ten in our public schools will find his life work in an 
intellectual occupation while the other nine are destined to do 
hand work. 

9. Foreign born fathers are relatively more numerous among 
the manual workers and Americans among the mental workers, 
but the disproportion is not very great. 

10. A large proportion of the workers are engaged in a small 
number of industrial groups. The most numerous single group 
is retail trade and in this group more than one-half are proprietors. 



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